The WHO Collaborating Centre for Healthy Cities and Urban Policy

Healthy Cities 21st Century logo Welcome to the website of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Healthy Cities and Urban Policy.

The central purpose of the Centre is to promote healthy and sustainable settlements through research, teaching, consultancy, knowledge exchange and publications. We work closely with municipalities, planning consultancies and health authorities in Britain as well as with the wider WHO Healthy Cities network of Europe. The Centre is recognised as a leader in the emerging field of healthy urban planning.

Primarily set up to support the Healthy Cities network the Centre has also established itself in the UK for promoting better understanding of the interlocked nature of health and planning. It has a strong track record of working with national, regional and local interests from both traditions.

Resources

The Health Map
Background information and downloadable copies - new Creative Commons Licence.

Shaping Neighbourhoods: for local health and global sustainability
The essential desktop guide - 2nd edition just published.

Building Health: Planning and designing for health and happiness
One-day Conference: January 2010 - conference reports and presentations

Health Impact Assessment
Supporting regional capacity for regeneration and growth - new web resource.

Current main themes

Healthy urban planning
The new spatial planning system encourages collaboration between health authorities and local authorities. But many professionals on both sides of the divide still have a hazy notion of what 'healthy urban planning' might mean.

The design of healthy, sustainable neighbourhoods
Neighbourhoods are the local human habitat. Yet we often allow them to develop or decline in counter-healthy ways. Our work involves major research programmes and publications

Collaborative decision processes
The achievement of healthy and sustainable settlements relies on positive behavioural change by households and businesses, support from powerful decision-makers, and different agencies working together. The Centre has developed tools to facilitate inclusive, rational appraisal and decision processes.

Knowledge interpretation and exchange
We are involved in a number of innovative practices for re-skilling the built environment professions, though study tours, networks, training and masterclasses.

The Centre is at the core of the UWE Institute for Sustainability, Health and Environment and works closely with relevant experts across the university. It has strong links to: